Escherichia coli O157:H7 colonizes cattle intestines by using the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE)-encoded proteins. The induction of systemic immune response against LEE-encoded proteins, therefore, will prove effective in reducing E. coli O157:H7 colonization in cattle. The previous studies have demonstrated that a hha (encodes for a hemolysin expression modulating protein) deletion enhan...

We discovered previously that the small Escherichia coli proteins Hha (hemolysin expression modulating protein) and the adjacent, poorly-characterized YbaJ are important for biofilm formation; however, their roles have been nebulous. Biofilms are intricate communities in which cell signaling often converts single cells into primitive tissues. Here we show that Hha decreases biofilm formation dr...

Escherichia coli Hha is an environmental-response regulator of the pathogenic hemolysin operon, and Hha and the contiguous YbaJ are both induced 30-fold in E. coli biofilms (Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 64:515, 2004). Here it is shown that Hha and YbaJ regulate biofilm formation since the hha/ybaJ deletion reduces biofilm mass in microtitre plates (81% in minimal medium, 50% in complex medium) ...

In recent studies, we demonstrated that a deletion of hha caused increased secretion of locus of enterocyte encoded adherence proteins and reduced motility of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7. In addition to the importance of hha in positive regulation of motility, a two-component quorum sensing pathway encoded by the qseBC genes has been shown to activate bacterial motility in...

The global transcriptional regulator Hha of Escherichia coli controls biofilm formation and virulence. Previously, we showed that Hha decreases initial biofilm formation; here, we engineered Hha for two goals: to increase biofilm dispersal and to reduce biofilm formation. Using random mutagenesis, Hha variant Hha13D6 (D22V, L40R, V42I and D48A) was obtained that causes nearly complete biofilm d...

The Hha and YdgT proteins are suggested to modulate the expression of horizontally acquired genes by interacting with H-NS and StpA, which play central roles in the transcriptional silencing of such genes. However, it is also possible that Hha/YdgT repress gene expression independently of H-NS/StpA, as we have not fully understood the molecular mechanism through which Hha/YdgT modulate H-NS/Stp...

The locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), which includes five major operons (LEE1 through LEE4 and tir), enables enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 to produce attaching and effacing lesions on host cells. Expression of LEE2, LEE3, and tir is positively regulated by ler, a gene located in LEE1. Transcriptional regulation of the esp operon (LEE4), however, is not well defined. Tran...

The Hha family of proteins is involved in the regulation of gene expression in enterobacteria by forming complexes with H-NS-like proteins. Whereas several amino acid residues of both proteins participate in the interaction, some of them play a key role. Residue D48 of Hha protein is essential for the interaction with H-NS, thus the D48N substitution in Hha protein abrogates H-NS/Hha interactio...

We describe a transcriptomic study of the effect of hha and ydgT mutations in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. A large number of genes showing altered expression are located in AT-rich horizontally acquired DNA sequences. Many of these genes have also been reported to be targets for H-NS. As Hha and YdgT interact with H-NS, our findings strongly suggest that Hha and/or YdgT must form co...

Proteins of the Hha/YmoA family co-regulate with H-NS the expression of horizontally acquired genes in Enterobacteria. Systematic mutations of conserved acidic residues in Hha have allowed the identification of D48 as an essential residue for H-NS binding and the involvement of E25. Mutations of these residues resulted in deregulation of sensitive genes in vivo. D48 is only partially solvent ac...